20 Things You Didn't Know About Mortal Kombat

Before the little-known Linden Ashby was cast in the role of Johnny Cage, New Line Cinema lined up a host of higher-profile actors to play the iconic brawler.

First off, Jean-Claude Van Damme was offered the part, which only feels apt given that Johnny Cage was originally based on him.

However, Van Damme turned it down to instead play Guile in the atrocious Street Fighter movie released the year prior - a decision that's truly aged like milk.

Thereafter, the studio also considered the likes of martial artist Gary Daniels and, most shockingly, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp.

That's not to say that either Cruise or Depp were actually interested in playing the part, of course, but clearly someone was aiming for the stars (literally) when casting Johnny Cage.